164 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



signs of the old trail crossing the branch stream just 

 below some falls and then continuing along on a rough 

 rocky ridge leading toward the pass. We found the 

 going very rough for animals, but with a little work it 

 could be greatly improved. The signs of the trail led 

 down to a small lake located just below the pass and 

 keeping close to the lake rounded its easterly shore and 

 zigzagged up the steep slope leading directly to the pass. 

 The trail leads into the notch of the pass and on first 

 arrival one is forced to the conclusion that he is the 

 victim of a huge joke. He finds himself standing at an 

 altitude of about i3,ocx) ft. on a sharp edge of the main 

 Kings-Kern Divide amid a bewildering array of splint- 

 ered and jagged 14,000-foot peaks, while to the south- 

 west is stretched out the grand panorama of the Kern 

 River basin. At his feet the Kern side of the Divide 

 drops away with an appalling steepness. Close search, 

 however, disclosed the trail carefully built and leading 

 up a few yards above the notch of the pass to the right, 

 and then winding sharply down into a steep chimney, 

 which was, even then, in the middle of July, choked at 

 its head with snow. Below the snow extended a chute 

 of loose rock standing at a very uncertain state of equili- 

 brium. One of the mules, at this juncture, fortunately 

 for its own preservation, had cast a shoe and we decided 

 to abandon the idea of taking the animals over the pass. 

 Undoubtedly it was feasible to have taken animals over, 

 as it has been done in the past, but it is extremely ques- 

 tionable whether they could be brought back to the pass 

 again from the Kern side. Facilis descensus Averni, sed 

 etc. 



Progress was rapid, aided by gravity and no longer 

 delayed by the slow progress of the animals. We quickly 

 crossed Tyndall Creek and reached the southerly branch 

 of East Creek by nightfall, where we camped. Un- 

 hampered by animals we could easily have reached 

 Crabtree Meadow at the base of Whitney that day. 

 Early the next morning our party, except Mr. Arthur 



